Are you ready for the next chapter of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor? Cal Kestis and his companions are back, embarking on a new quest to find the lost planet of Tanalorr. While Jedi: Fallen Order reprised its stylish approach to gameplay from the original game, Survivor expands on the core mechanics to deliver a richer, more dynamic experience that is not without its imperfections.
Launch Issues
Star Wars Jedi Survivor’s launch was plagued with bugs, glitches, and framerate drops. Players on every platform encountered these issues on day one, but many of the problems have since been remedied through patches. While these launch snags can be forgiven, as we are all naturally excited to play the latest Star Wars adventure, it’s essential that a Star Wars game delivers a polished, bug-free experience on day one.
Gameplay and Campaign Design
Jedi: Fallen Order showed that the series is capable of introducing worthwhile new mechanics while staying true to what makes the films’ lightsaber combat so enthralling. One of the best innovations that Survivor introduces is the five stances, which drastically change the way players approach combat. With the new position-changing system, players can mix and match the positions of dual wield, single wield, and handless, forcing them to think carefully about their next attack.
While it’s fun to experiment with different lightsaber stances, the inability to equip more than two at a time hinders Survivor’s ability to demand specific stances by taking away player choice. A weapon wheel or button combination to freely switch between stances would enhance gameplay and add strategic depth to an already excellent combat system.
Survivor does have a few areas where it should take a lesson from Jedi: Fallen Order. The ramifications from reaching Tanalorr would make for an interesting chapter in the Star Wars canon. What kind of communities of refugees exist now that the Sisutras have dominated the galaxy? Would there be new factions, either antagonists or allies, looking to take advantage of the Jedi’s new location?
Characters
Throughout two and a half hours of cutscenes, Survivor introduces three villains: Dagan Gera, Nyoh Rehik, and Juda Parvi. The most disappointing character for me was Dagan Gera, who never lived up to the greatness of his boss fight. His intense and emotional showdown with Cal should have been carried through their entire conflict — especially since it was made so evident that Gera was consumed by his anger and raw power. He is defeated relatively easily and as a main antagonist in a chapter-length story, he falls flat.
There’s also insufficient development around Juda Parvi and Nyoh Rehik. Parvi is, once again, hyped up to be a major adversary — a step up from last time, at least — but good ol’ Nyoh and her self-created arachnids don’t really impress much in their final showdowns. The finale of Survivor deliberately leaves Nyoh dead, but there’s no closure or finality in the story without their end. What Nyoh and Parvi represent in regards to the Force and their under-explored Talimbana religion is still unclear at this point, as it lacked proper development.
The Cal-Merrin-Kata relationship is an important one that offers plenty of depth and intricate character dynamics, which is something I wish more videogames strived for. The relationship is of a more complicated undercurrent, in that Cal is the one responsible for her father’s death during the events at the end of the first game, leading to a strained relationship with Merrin. Kata, too, lost her father to Cal’s actions — though indirectly — causing a similar rift in the pair’s friendships. These relationships, along with Cal’s complicated relationship with the dark side, make for a lot of interesting potential in his future as a Jedi or character with a darker side. But we’ll leave that to the Jaden Korr Star Wars game.
The Force and Impact on Gameplay
As mentioned, one area in which Survivor improves upon the formula is its use of the Force and the teachings of the Talimbana. It’s a smart design choice to remove the limitation on Force Powers, in that it’s far less cumbersome now to select the skill you want to use in combat. A new power up system is introduced, where you have the option of saving up your charge to use a more powerful version of your Force Powers, introducing a more dynamic choice for gameplay.
